Daniel H. Weinberg, theater owner

January 11, 1993

Daniel Henry Weinberg, 83, an entrepreneur who built Hagerstown's first drive-in movie theater and Frederick's first motor inn and automated bowling lanes, died of cancer Friday at his home in Braddock Heights.

Mr. Weinberg, a native of Lexington, Va., followed his father into the entertainment business and was an entrepreneur in the theater industry in Maryland and Virginia for about 60 years.

He and his father, Isaac Weinberg, operated one of the country's first theater circuits, the Shenandoah Valley Theatre Corp., in Virginia.

When his father retired in the 1930s, Mr. Weinberg worked in theaters in New Jersey for a short time and then in Virginia.

During World War II, he joined the overseas service of the American Red Cross in the Pacific as a field director for Honolulu. He later became island field director for Saipan in the Mariana Islands.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Mr. Weinberg pioneered the modern movie theater business in west-central Maryland. He built the area's first drive-in theater, the Hi-Way, near Hagerstown, and the first automated theater with rocking-chair seats, the Holiday Cinemas in Frederick.

In 1950, he acquired the Opera House in Frederick; in 1952, the Braddock Drive-In Theater; and in 1959, the Tivoli Theatre. The Weinberg family donated the Tivoli to the City of Frederick in 1977, and it is now the Weinberg Center for the Performing Arts.

Mr. Weinberg also owned the Braddock Heights Swimming Pool, Terrace Lanes Bowling Center in Frederick, radio station WARK-AM in Hagerstown and the Frederick Holiday Inn at U.S. 40 and U.S. 15.

He was vice president and board member of the Salvation Army, president of the Braddock Heights Community Association, past president of the Community Chest of Frederick City, member of the Presidents' Round Table at Hood College and a director of the Maryland Motion Picture Theatre Owners Association.

He was a member of the Rotary Club of Frederick; Elks Lodge No. 684; the Variety Club of Washington and the Circus Saints and Sinners Club -- P. T. Barnum Tent of Washington, both charitable groups; and the Beth Sholom Congregation in Frederick.

Mr. Weinberg was a 32nd degree Mason at the Kazim Temple in Roanoke, Va., and the Grand Lodge of Staunton, Va.

His wife of 58 years, Alyce Turner Weinberg, and a brother, Manuel M. Weinberg, died in 1987. A stepdaughter, June E. Twilley, died in 1972.

He is survived by a daughter, Danyce T. Weinberg, and a son, Aldan T. Weinberg, both of Braddock Heights; a sister, Adelaide Daves of Lexington, Va.; and four grandchildren.

Services were to be private. The family suggested donations to Friends of the Weinberg Center, in care of the Weinberg Center for the Performing Arts, 20 W. Patrick St., Frederick, Md. 21701.